Simon School Admissions Blog

Broaden Your Horizons: The Caribbean

By: Tonya

Hot, sandy beaches and palm trees gently rustling in the breeze - just a typical April day in Rochester?  Yes!  If you attended the Broaden Your Horizons: Caribbean event! 

Over a delicious lunch of jerk chicken, rice & beans, and green beans, five of our students shared the culture, history, and traditions of their Caribbean roots with 200 fellow Simon students, faculty, and staff.

Roger Cordero Mueses, MBA '10, kicked off the event with the Dominican Republic.  He talked about their rich musical history and the island sounds of Merengue and Bachata.  Baseball is the national sport and the Dominican has exported such baseball greats as Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, and Juan Marichal. 

Byron Barnes, MBA '10, taught us a little Haitian Creole and shared some beautiful mountain scenery from the "Pearl of the Antilles," also known as Haiti.  Will Reynolds, MBA '09, taught us about the national products of Guyana (sugar cane, timber, rice, fish, gold, and diamonds) and reminded us that Guyana is not the same country as Ghana!

Puerto Rico was up next and Myrdna Vargas, MBA '10, shared beautiful photos of her home country and explained how the people there are made up of Spanish, Taino, and African heritage.  Salsa, Merengue, and Reggaeton is the music you will hear in Puerto Rico.  Last, we got to experience the bright colors and excitement of Carnival in Trinidad & Tobago.  Sean Senhouse, MBA '10, showed us pictures from Carnival and told us that "liming" (the art of congregating with friends and would-be-friends) is a favorite pastime there.

We are truly very fortunate, here at Simon, to have over 33 countries represented in our MBA program.  The Broaden Your Horizons events give us the opportunity to learn about these different countries and regions and expand our knowledge and perspective.  I want to give kudos to the students who presented the Caribbean to us and I look forward to the next BYH at Simon!

2008-2009 Travel Season

By: Jackie

Greetings from Simon! It's been a busy summer in the admissions office-- we have been welcoming new students who have already started here as well as getting ready for all of those who will start orientation very soon, we have had many visitors and have started reviewing applications for our accelerated MBA program which will start in January of 2009. In addition we have been planning our upcoming travel for this fall and early winter and I'm excited to report that we will be going to a lot of great cities all over the world this year. In the US, we will be covering a lot of territory from the east to west coast visiting over 20 different locations in 17 states. We'll also be visiting Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, China, Turkey, Greece, and India between now and early winter and will be in some of those countries more than once! To see specific dates and times you can visit: Simon off-campus recruitment schedule.

We look forward to seeing you in our travels! 

Leadership (Part II): the Forté Foundation 2008 Women’s MBA Conference in New York City

By: Tonya

Did you know that Simon is one of the 37 top MBA schools that make up the Forté Foundation? 

It is such a privilege to be a part of this consortium of major corporations, top business schools, and influential non-profit organizations united to help direct talented women towards leadership roles in business.  Each year Forté holds an annual conference where all of these organizations come together, along with talented MBA students, for several days of speakers and sessions that are informative and inspirational.  I was honored to get to attend the conference this year with 5 incoming Simon students and 3 current students.  I think we all walked away with an amazing experience, an expanded network, and valuable insights into women’s business issues, like shattering the glass ceiling, finding work/life balance, negotiating skills, and leadership development.

Since this is my second blog that examines leadership.  I wanted to tell you about the Dialogue with Leadership Luncheon that was held during the conference.  The accomplished businesswomen that led the discussion were: Sharon Allen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deloitte LLP; Lisa Weber, President of Individual Business at MetLife; and Patricia Sellers, Editor-at-Large at Fortune magazine.   The panelists discussed their perspectives on building professional legacies, making meaningful career and life choices, maintaining the integrity of business, and becoming responsible corporate citizens.  Advice they offered included the importance of focusing on people and surrounding yourself with a good team.  They also stressed that women should never become complacent and never remain stagnant in their career and responsibilities.

The conference also included an MBA Career Fair where MBA students had the opportunity to meet with Fortune 100 recruiters from some of the world’s most prestigious corporations, like: Abbott, American Express, Avon, Bank of America, Capital Group, Chevron, Citi, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Eli Lilly, Ernst & Young, Fidelity, GE, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Intel, John Deere, Johnson & Johnson, Lehman, McKinsey, Merrill Lynch, MetLife, Moody’s, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia, and Williams.

Forté membership is open to all women who attend Simon, a Forté sponsor school.  For more information, visit: www.fortefoundation.org.

Gearing up for travel season!

By: Jackie

Here in admissions, one of my favorite times of the year is here... fall travel season!  Travel season is not only a great opportunity to visit some wonderful places, but also and most importantly, an excellent opportunity to see the places our prospective students, current students, and alumni call home.  It's always so helpful to me in the application review process to have a sense of where everyone is from and to better understand various cultures.

This fall I will be traveling to some great cities in the United States such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, New York City, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. I'll also have the opportunity to visit countries such as Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan.  My colleagues here at Simon will also be visiting many cities both domestically and abroad.  Other countries that we will be visiting this fall include Turkey, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, and India.

When we are "on the road" we attend forums, conduct interviews, meet with officials from different colleges, universities, and organizations, and meet up with alumni. Some forums that we typically take part in are the World MBA Tour, MBA Tour, Inside the MBA, the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, and the Forte Foundation among others.

One event that I am particuarly excited about this year is a gathering that the Simon Alumni Network of Japan will be holding in September. It should be a great opportunity for old friends to reunite and for others to get to know one another. I look forward to the opportunity to meet with so many of our accomplished alumni in Tokyo! 

I'll make sure and post more during my travels and continue to update you on all that we are doing here this fall at Simon!  In the meantime, you can visit our full event schedule online.